But even though its unscripted, sandbox etc etc. It's still the same game. Same IP, same controls, same AI etc etc. the only true sandbox game is real life, and we all know how underrated that is :p
Ok i'll go that far with you, but no difference for the 100% scripted roller coaster shooter.
I'd much rather play a more linear game which compeltley immerses me from start to finish, and leaves me actually feeling i was part of the game, and even a little sad that it is over. Almost like youve finished a chapter in life, despite it only being a 20 hr story driven game. having said that, replayability is still important, which is why i like my MMOs. And as for Sandbox, EVE has a nice blend of all the above.
The immersing i can agree with. However its the story someone else thought up, you get to play it, much like watching a movie or reading a book.
Taking DF as that is the most complete sandbox game i know of. It is all random. A random world is generated. You can set up a few things but it is random for all intents and purposes. With exactly the same parameters a different world can be generated. (sensitive dependency on initial conditions
)
all events are also generated in game, in case you are connected to the dwarfs they will send a carvan. But what it will carry is random. The dwarfs that come to your fort, random, the names of the dwarfs, proffesions etc etc random
The events, you are attacked by goblins year 1 month 4 reload start year 1, and now not attacked, reload again, attacked in month 5, group consists of X etc etc.
But after seeing the little idiot walking around and doing stuff you tend to see a certain pattern, based on the random parameters he has, you can follow him and see what he is up to, or not. But if you do you can imagine the story behind him. he has relationships that can happen, grudges, he can get sick all based on randomness and the initial stats he got. and the 1st time he might do it, the 2nd he might not. It is hard to predict what will happen, and thats making it fun (for me)
As for MMO's i agree on the eve part, however, look at WoW, i played that, and focusing on pve. It consists of me and my friends leveling to lvl 40 at that time, than going to boss x. and fight him. every time we fought the boss we needed to use the exact same tactic. Its not as if the boss acted differently or started fighting as boss Y so you dont know what to expect. Its exactely the same. The drops however are random (to a certain degree)
WoW was in my mind only fun because of the players. As for SWTOR, i still fear very much it will be a singleplayer game where i pay for every month after i initially buy it. At least to get the immersion. The killing of boss X i'll believe.